Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton
Paperback, 320 Pages
2007, Berkley Trade
ISBN: 0425201392
Series: Book 3 of Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
Synopsis
The third novel of Hamilton's Anita Blake series has the petite necromancer fighting a giant cobra and a rogue vampire, Alejandro, who wants her for his human servant. Anita is still resisting the advances of Jean-Claude, St. Louis's master vampire, but she does need him on her side, if not in her bed. Anita's reluctant involvement in the odd goings-on at the supernatural Circus of the Damned introduces her to Richard, the werewolf of her dreams, and Larry, her powerful but nervous partner in zombie-raising.
Mystery fans will love the tightly plotted, Paretsky-esque action, and horror fans will love just about everything in this unusual series.
Review
Circus of the Damned, the third book in the Anita Blake series, contains less gore than the previous novel, but more than makes up for it with an intense mystery and nearly constant action. Anita struggles with breaking in, and keeping safe, an newbie animator, hunting down a rouge master vampire, and questioning the limits of her love life.
Circus of the Damned introduces Richard Zeeman, who's showing quite the interest in Anita. He's hot. And not dead, which gives him the advantage over Jean-Claude. Surprisingly, when Anita must decide how loyal she is to Jean-Claude, it has nothing to do with romance in Circus of the Damned.
Anita must find a master vampire that's leading a band of human killers. The mystery has a lot of back and forth to it, eventually leading to a surprising reveal.
Circus of the Damned brings us further into the world of the shapeshifters. While not strictly a werewolf book, we do see a good deal of them and other weres.
My lone complaint is the ending of Circus of the Damned, after the mystery is completely resolved, feels a lot like when a character wakes up and says "oh, it was all a dream." Some truly interesting stuff occurs in the course of the book only to be taken back at the end. I really dislike when the plot takes you places only to have the author say "just kidding" in the last few pages of the book.
Circus of the Damned is ripe with deadly fight scenes and danger around every turn. A fantastic continuation of the series and completely un-put-down-able.
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